Workshop 3: Online Taxi Booking System: MySQL and Database design

Topic objectives

1. Develop a database object design for an online taxi booking system (OTBS);
2. Revise database techniques with Rails and SQL
3. Describe how to use the MVC “push-based architecture” in the Ruby on Rails development environment

To do:

1. Set up the MySQL tools on your computer as described in section 6 above.

2. Rails will setup a new application directory for each of your Web application projects. Get InstantRails (Windows) or Locomotive (MacOS) running on your machine. Both packages install Ruby, Rails, a Web server or one called ‘Mongrel’ or another small Ruby Web server called ‘WEBrick’, and MySQL “inside a bubble” as I call it so that others parts of your system are not modified (Similarly ZOPE does with installing its own Web server and Python versions).

3. Once Rails is running you at http://localhost:3000, you need to configure database access. Connection to the database is specified in the config/database.yml file.

4. Generate the Passenger model by creating the MySQL database and ‘passengers’ table from the information above.

5. Further work on understanding MySQL under Rails by David Mertz:

a. See “Fast-track your Web apps with Ruby on Rails” at http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-rubyrails/

b. The “Rolling with Ruby on Rails” series and “Cookbook recipes by Curt Hibbs and others beginning at http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/01/20/rails.html